Certainty

As a mom, I’ve come to know that the single most heart pouring of my creative acts is found in the freckles and dimples of my kids. The loves of my life, whom I hold onto the tightest.

My mom and the moms and grandmas I’ve hung out with in practice always told me it would go by fast. As I politely nodded in agreement, I clearly didn’t grasp the truth of it until I realize that as the days went by slowly, the fast forward button of the months and years was pressed down and here we are.

I look around and I’m just realizing that I’m not the one in college or the one getting ready to go to college. I’m the mom. I’m grown up. And…they’ve grown up…well, for the most part anyway ;)

I look back at their childhood where, in the blink of an eye, I was witnessing the beauty of individuality and the flourishing of potential and through our busy, ruffled and adventurous years, apparently Darin and I, grew up with them.

And now, my perspective is different. After taking care of the thousands of kids I’ve worked with over the past 22 years, I think it’s less complicated than we’re made to believe.

As parents, we might disagree on what to feed them, how to educate them, how much to give them, how much to push them, whether we should or shouldn’t vaccinate them, what supplements to give them, we debate co sleeping and for how long, baby wearing and weaning and how much freedom to give them and to what extent.

What we all share though, is a mission to have them thrive. To watch them forge their own happiness, to become creators of good health, to learn to love and to find their purpose. The moment they were born, we knew. We knew they were perfect and excellent and meant to find their place in the world with an open heart and with an innate connection to their astounding potential.

We look at them and we know what they’re made of. It moves us when they show us who they are and we just want them to allow themselves to for shine for others to see it also. We want them to have certainty in this.

And then…the human experience unrolls itself. The physical injuries, the concussion(s), the emotional stress, the peer pressure, the loss of loved ones, the waning of confidence, the need to fit in, the need to uncomfortably shove themselves into a round hole even though they’re a square peg.

Bearing witness, guiding and trusting the unravelling of our most precious ones, is a love quest. Did we do enough, say enough, hold them enough? Why didn’t we know what we didn’t know when we didn’t know it? Did they feel loved enough?

We poise ourselves to be their graceful and clairvoyant guides, except most of the time our kids are teaching us more than we’re teaching them. And what’s everyone learning anyway?

After 22 years of practice of taking care of thousands of kids, I believe I’m privy to a simple humble observation. I believe that the degree to which our kids will forge their way intimately connected to their potential and acutely aware that they have a purpose, is through the development of an innate certainty. In fact, I believe it’s the only way.

I recently attended a seminar which featured all the latest neurology research as it relates to the brain, spine and nervous system. Hours were spend discussing and reviewing the role of the prefrontal cortex. This area (front of the brain) is responsible for movement control, immune function, empathy, inflammation levels, hormonal function, emotional control AND mental health, impulse control, flexible thinking, task initiation and self monitoring.

When the front of the brain (the pre frontal cortex) functions properly, certainty is present. When certainty is present, mental health outcomes and the potential for a person to be self directed, creative and in a state of growth is expanded.

I’ve been witness to this sort of expansion time and time again in practice. I see it on a daily basis. Some of the latest studies in neurology demonstrate that the prefrontal cortex is directly related to proper movement in the upper potion of the spine and that chiropractic adjustments in this area immediately and in real time enhance and correct the function of this prefrontal cortex. This in turn leads to the molding of developmental certainty.

After 22 years of working with thousands of children and families who have made chiropractic care part of their lifestyle, my observation is that the kids who messaging implied with these parents who choose chirpractic as a lifestyle is that it doesn’t need to be so complicated.

These families imply and assume an innate trust that a healthy body will always know how to handle healing and how to handle the future. It may be simple but/and it changes everything.